Sangsan High School principal Park Sam-ok announces the North Jeolla Province Office of Education's decision to revoke the school's license, Thursday. Yonhap

By Bahk Eun-jiIn the wake of the revocation of two autonomous private high schools' licenses, Thursday, there is growing speculation that the government is speeding up plans to turn special purpose elite schools into ordinary ones. On Thursday, the regional education authorities in North Jeolla and Gyeonggi provinces, decided to strip Sangsan High School and Ansan Dongsan High School of their licenses, citing their failure to meet standards.The decision immediately brought a strong backlash from parents and the schools, which denounced the decision as a government plan to abolish special purpose elite schools.Controversy over education reform has been ongoing nationwide because it is one of the Moon Jae-in administration's top education policy goals. Autonomous high schools have more authority in student selection and curricula, but they have been considered "elite schools" offering a higher level of academic work and attended by children from wealthy families that pay higher tuition fees. Introduced in 2010, those schools must have their licenses renewed every five years. A school that fails to receive at least 70 points out of 100 is supposed to be reclassified as a regular high school.There are 46 autonomous high schools nationwide. Thirteen in Seoul, where 38 percent of such schools are located, are scheduled to be re-evaluated, with the results announced next month.

Students walk through the grounds of Sangsan High School, North Jeolla Province, Friday. Yonhap

To make those schools even more uneasy, the education ministry is seemingly not on their side. The ministry gives final approval to the regional education authority before it revokes the license of an autonomous private school."If there is no procedural problem, I will respect the decision," said Education Minister Yoo Eun-hye.Sangsan High School principal Park Sam-ok released a statement immediately after the decision, denouncing the education office in North Jeolla Province for being unfair in the evaluation saying the school would oppose the decision. "Sangsan High School achieved 79.61 points out of 100, but the education office said the high school failed to receive over 80 points, which it claimed was the cut-off score," Park said in the statement. "Besides, considering the other regional education office set 70 points as a cut-off, it is utterly unfair."North Jeolla Province education office superintendent Kim Seung-hwan raised the cut-off score from 70 to 80 last year, claiming 70 points was no different than other regular high schools could receive in the province. Unlike the North Jeolla Province education office, the Gyeonggi Province education office did not reveal the score for Dongsan High School. More than 250 parents of Sangsan High School students rallied in front of the education office building in North Jeolla Province on Thursday to denounce the decision as abrupt and unfair."Only the North Jeolla Province education office raised the score from 70 to 80," said a mother at the rally. "It is obviously designed to revoke the license of Sangsan High School, which we, parents, cannot accept."If the government wants to abolish private autonomous high schools, revision of the relevant education law should come first, otherwise this move lacks justification that can never be acceptable."